Abstract:A�The aim of this article is to study the hillfort thermalism from an archaeological point of view. Material remains are considered as a main source in order to draw historical knowledge, making use of a critical and objectifiable analysis. We have pursued three objectives: to establish a general balance of the current state of knowledge of the material remains of this thermalism, to submit to critique the arguments that support a pre-Roman dating for this phenomenon and to make an overall assessment of their alleged links with a thermal tradition of recent Prehistory, associated with religious or initiatory practices. We conclude that hillfort thermalism is a phenomenon limited to certain territories in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, that it must be necessarily interpreted as a product of the roman influence in the region, and finally, that we have no evidence to infer that it has been marked by a certain transcendence